Jonathan Grenford (called Jon by his family and Gren by everyone else) is the second son of the Duke of Haverford, a fact that was causing him considerable distress when he first appeared in Revealed in Mist.
His next appointment arrived late, apologising as he approached the table, hand extended to shake. David ignored the open and guileless smile and focused on the eyes. Careful, considering, watching to see if the charm was having the desired effect.
“Lord Jonathan.” His own face would give the young man no clues about what David was thinking and feeling. He returned a firm press of the hand, and waved Lord Jonathan to a seat.
“Please. Call me Gren. Or Jon, if you prefer, as Aldridge does. After all, you’re my brother too.” Another friendly grin, of no more depth than the first.
A surprise attack might prompt a reaction David could use. “Is there a reason I shouldn’t tell Aldridge about your plan to get yourself exiled?”
Bare shock for a moment, quickly turning to calculation.
“Mrs. Worth is your informer. Of course. I thought her of too fine a quality to be a whore’s housekeeper.”
The boy was quick; David had to give him that.
The smile turned self-deprecating. “I’d rather you didn’t tell Aldridge. With luck, things have gone too far for him to fix, but I wouldn’t want to count on it. The magic ducal wand.”
“Aldridge wants to protect Her Grace,” David said. And he did, too, come to that.
“Aldridge wants to protect everyone. It’s been bred into him. Yes, and beaten into him, too.” Lord Jonathan—Gren—waved a casual hand, “His Grace is not a gentle father.”
He leaned forward, confidingly, the grin gone and his face suddenly open and sincere. “Aldridge doesn’t understand. I can’t live this life—this meaningless, idiotic life. He has work. I am allowed none. He has purpose. Mine is to simply exist until he marries and has children. After that, I’m redundant. Aldridge thinks I should be happy to drink and gamble and swive myself silly, then get up the next day and do it again. He can’t believe I’m not. But he wouldn’t like having nothing useful to do nearly as much as he thinks.”
Lord Jonathan shook his head thoughtfully. “Do you know how many younger sons die in pointless, stupid accidents, doing something crazy because they’re bored? Now, that would certainly upset Mama!”
David wasn’t sympathetic. “Then do something productive. Join the army. Take up employment.”
“I tried to join the army. His Grace refused his permission. So I joined under a false name. His Grace had me hunted down, bought me out, and confined me until I gave my word not to do it again.
“I went to work for an architect. His Grace had the man beaten. I changed my name again, and found work as a factory clerk. He threatened to ruin the man if I wasn’t fired. He told me that if I tried it again, he’d throw my old nanny out of the cottage she has retired to.”
Despite himself, David could feel for the lad.
“He wants me dependent. Which is partly your fault, by the way.”
The reproach was unexpected. “How do you draw that conclusion?”
Lord Jonathan shrugged. “You’ve made your own way. Refused all help, or so I’ve heard. His Grace doesn’t control you. With everyone else, he says jump, and they ask for instructions on how high and far, and for permission to come down. You just ignore him.”
“Not exactly,” David said. “I stay out of his way, that’s all.” A hard-learned lesson, that. He still suspected the duke was behind his arrest, if not the false murder accusation. Certainly, His Grace had sent a messenger to the prison, offering to make it all go away for the price of David’s complete obedience.
David might even have accepted, if the man had come the first day of his incarceration. But three days and nights in that hole had given David time to think, and to put the clues together. And the Bow Street Runner who had arrested him had come in answer to the message David spent his last coin to send, and had not only listened, but had tested David’s theory and arrested the real murderer.
That wasn’t the last time His Grace had attempted to bring his base-born son to heel. Jobs that suddenly went to another thief taker; rewards evaporating; rumours about his honesty—and letters and visits from His Grace’s representatives offering a job at one of His Grace’s estates, an income, and subtle hints about the penalties of recalcitrance.
David petitioned Her Grace and the interference stopped, but he wasn’t fool enough to believe His Grace had reformed. Far from ignoring His Grace, David made an effort to always know where the man was and to avoid drawing his attention. Her Grace could sometimes influence her husband, but it wouldn’t do to rely on that overmuch.
Could Her Grace do anything for Lord Jonathan? He asked, but Lord Jonathan shook his head.
“I’ve asked, believe me. And she has tried. But he won’t budge. This touches his pride. Of us all, we three boys, the little girls… you’re the only one who got away.”
David had never before thought of his banishment as good fortune. But perhaps it was.
“You’re lucky you don’t care about anyone except Mama,” Lord Jonathan was continuing. “If you did, His Grace would use them to control you.”
Prue’s face suddenly appeared in David’s mind. His Grace had better never know what she meant to David. Prue would give the old tyrant all the leverage he needed.
“Just as well,” David agreed.
“So will you tell Aldridge? Or Mama?”
David nodded. “I’ll keep your secret. For now, at least. But Lord Jonathan, be careful. The accusations against you could get you hanged.”
Lord Jonathan waved carelessly. “Aldridge won’t let it come to that.”
David hesitated, then said, “If Aldridge fails, and you find yourself in trouble, send for me. A message to the landlord here will find me.”
The lazy grin again, this time lighting the eyes. Genuine amusement. “Why thank you, big brother. You must like me a little, after all.”
David was not about to admit the reluctant truth of that.
Gren did manage to escape, later that year. The story of his kidnap, escape, and adventures in enemy France will be told in Concealed in Shadow, the sequel to Revealed in Mist. (Yet to be published.) It’s really Prue’s story, and Gren’s remains to be told. Suffice it to say that he escaped Russia just ahead of the Napoleonic invasion. (He’d arrived in Russia the long way round. Long story.) On his way back to Britain, he was waylaid by adventure and fell in love.
We next see him at his mother’s house party in To Wed a Proper Lady. There, a messenger arrives to fetch him. Here’s what happened.
The duchess excused herself and left, to return after a few moments. “A messenger has come to fetch my son Jonathan. If you will excuse me, my friends, I will go and help him prepare for his trip. Please. Continue the celebrations. I will join you again as soon as I can.”
Sophia followed her into the hall in time to hear Aldridge say, “If you must go, use my yacht. It stands off Margate, but we can be there in two days, and she is faster than anything you’ll pick up in London. You will not have to wait for the Thames tide, either.”
“What you propose is not safe, my darling boy. The Grand Army is in your way. You could be shot as a spy,” the duchess said. “Why, this friend of yours cannot even give you assurance that the grand duchess will not behead you on sight. It is possible that…”
“Mama, all things are possible.” Gren was lit from within, bouncing on the balls of his feet as if his joy were too big to contain. “All things but one. I have tried living without the woman I love, Mama, and that, that is impossible. Anything else, I can do. Wait and see.”
All else we only know by hearsay. Suffice it to say, Gren’s story will be told in due course. It involves a runaway princess, assassins, and a duke’s son who has come into his own, while retaining all of his charm.
